first of all, when leon panetta was nominated to be c.i.a. director, i talked to a number of our c.i.a. personnel in varies parts of the world and they were concerned. leon didn't have a background in intelligence. i said -- my response was anybody who has been chief of staff to the president of the united states can handle any job in the united states government. and, of course, leon went on to prove that, so much so that for his next position he was confirmed 100-0 as secretary of defense. therefore, that is by way of saying to you, obviously, i support your nomination. you have handled that job of chief of staff very well. the other thing i wanted to say was, there was a problem when you were chief of staff with o.m.b. in that o.m.b. was continuing to try to run this country's space program. i went to you and you started ma sodging, that the nasa got to run the space program without o.m.b. folks saying you do this, you do that. are senator rockefeller cheers to the committee. i want to thank you for that. because what you did was -- you sm